


Look After You

by glim



Category: Merlin (BBC)
Genre: Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-21
Updated: 2010-03-21
Packaged: 2017-10-08 05:12:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/73045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glim/pseuds/glim
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur's ill, Merlin's exhausted, and there is mutual fussing of the non-fussy variety.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Look After You

Under the pretext of supervising the two pages who carried water into Arthur's chambers, Merlin paused at the top of the stairs and leaned against the wall. He tried his best to imitate what he called Arthur's 'delegating authority' look, though he suspected on him it looked more like a cross between confused and ridiculous, and, tonight, with an added element of knackered.

Because, of the three, knackered described him best at the moment. He was tired because Arthur was tired – a week of activities surrounding the visit of two delegations from the north, a major snowstorm in the middle of the week, and a bridge that collapsed over a frozen creek had kept Merlin running after Arthur for most of the past seven days. Also, he suspected, he was getting ill because Arthur was ill. Whatever sort of winter cold he'd brought back from his trip as escort for the first delegation had proven strong enough to still be bothering Arthur this week.

Not that there weren't other people in Camelot down with some winter illness, but Arthur was the only one Merlin had managed to get this close to and spend this much time with. He rubbed a hand over his face and cleared his throat. Well, it was _Arthur_. Merlin had suffered worse than a cold in the head for him and, so far, it was just a dry, scratchy throat and an incipient case of the sniffles.

It would be easier if he could just _sleep_ for a few days. Maybe a week. Arthur could probably use a week's worth of sleep, too, though Merlin would be lucky if he could get him to have a lie-in one morning.

Being able to simply magic the hot water into the bathtub in Arthur's chambers would make things a lot easier, too, Merlin reflected and hefted his own bucket of water. Most days, he was almost certain Arthur just _knew_ he had magic and that telling him wouldn't be as cataclysmic as Merlin had first thought it would be. They were close now, closer than friends, even, more like companions than anything else, and Arthur wasn't that much of a fool.

Though, even if Arthur did know, and even if Merlin didn't have to tell him, he was pretty sure trying to use magic when he was coming down ill and already exhausted would be a bad idea. Things tended to get a bit… erratic. Arthur's chambers might end up full of water that would sluice down the staircase or the bath water might dissolve into steam if Merlin coughed or sneezed while trying to perform the spell. Or, hm… He was pretty sure they wouldn't end up with sea creatures anywhere in the castle, but it was probably better not to take the chance.

The pages were gone and the bath was mostly full by the time Merlin added his own bucket of water along with a handful of scented herbs and went to check on the cauldron boiling over the fire. Arthur was lingering by the hearth, arms crossed over his chest, face hollowed out by fatigue and the lingering cold. He'd changed out of the clothes he'd had on for the evening festivities at court and into a thin, loose tunic with his breeches. Arthur smiled and then shook his head at Merlin.

"You look _terrible. _"

"Thanks. It's special for you." Merlin gave Arthur what he hoped was a deferential nod and smile in return. He hadn't really managed to get that expression down very well, either. "And you're welcome for having the bath prepared."

"I didn't mean it that way. I meant… Thank you. Come here." Arthur touched a hand to Merlin's arm to tug him in closer, close enough that Arthur's arm slid around his waist. "I meant that you look _tired_. And don't try to tell me you're not – you know I can tell."

"You should drink some of this. You don't sound or look so great yourself." The cup of hot water mixed with mead that Merlin offered Arthur got pushed back towards him. "Do I have to hold the cup for you, too? Or can you manage it on your own, your highness?"

A smile twitched at the corners of Arthur's mouth. For a second, it looked as if he would accept the offer, but he shook his head and pushed the cup back toward Merlin again. "I'll drink, but after you. It'll help… h-help you relax." He watched until Merlin took a sip and until his breath caught again and Arthur turned to muffle a couple full, strong sneezes into the crook of his elbow.

"Bless you."

Arthur nodded, the movement brief and hesitating, before he bent forward with another sneeze. He made a noise of frustration that sent him stalking to his bureau for a clean handkerchief.

"_Bless_ you." Merlin kept on hand at Arthur's elbow when he came to stand by Merlin.

"I thought I was doing better for a while there…" Sneezing had roughed up Arthur's voice further and worsened what already sounded like a very stuffy head. "Did you drink the mead?"

Merlin brought the cup to his mouth and took a few small sips, then a longer one when the sweet liquid warmed a path down his throat and through his chest. It was stronger than the wine or cordials his mother used to give him when he took cold and it took the edge off the chill in his body more quickly. The room even felt a bit warmer with the mead inside him, the glow in his chest and stomach much like the bright flame of the fire. Merlin took another drink, a slow, deep one, and handed the cup over to Arthur once he'd finished blowing his nose and coughing into the handkerchief.

"I think that was a good example you looking and sounding terrible… You've really got a bad cold."

Arthur huffed at Merlin and took the cup of mead from him to finish it off in a few swallows. "At least I've learned how to hide it."

"Not in front of me you haven't."

"No, not in front you… Or maybe I've just learned how to _not_ hide it in front of you."

Merlin let Arthur put his arm back around him before leaning in to brush a quick kiss over Arthur's lips. They hadn't even had time for _this_ in the past few days, a few quiet moments together, and Merlin wasn't about to let that admission of weakness on Arthur's part pass without some acknowledgment. He pressed their foreheads together and closed his eyes while they kissed a few more times. Arthur shivered against him and tightened the arm he had around Merlin to hold him closer. These moments when Arthur permitted himself the luxury of vulnerability were rare and quiet, the sort that Merlin wanted to hold onto as long as he could, but also the sort that slipped away from him too quickly.

The next time Arthur shivered, Merlin could feel it go through his body and could feel how, even next to the fire, the winter cold had settled into the castle and that his own burgeoning cold was making it harder to ignore. He gave a little cough into his fist and let Arthur move away after he gave Merlin a quick hug.

"Come on. Bath." Arthur walked away from the fire, stretching his shoulders, and waited until Merlin placed a fresh goblet full of hot water and mead and a clean handkerchief by the side of the bathtub, next to the pile of towels, to have Merlin undress him. The cool air had him shivering once more, but he stopped after stepping one foot into the bath. "Wait."

"What? Is it too hot? Too cold? Too… what?" Merlin looked down at the way Arthur fumbled with his neckerchief and stroked Arthur's side gently.

"It's perfect. As long as I don't have to get in there alone." Arthur tugged at the cloth, frowned, and turned his head to cough over Merlin's shoulder. "How do I get you out of this?"

"It unties _in front_. Like it always does."

"You do it." Arthur's hands slipped to Merlin's waist and into his jacket, which he pushed off Merlin as soon as he could, and then up under Merlin's tunic.

"Oh god. Your hands are _freezing_." Merlin tried to twitch away from the touch, but ended up stumbling, and that sent Arthur's hands sliding around to his back to catch hold of him.

"So is the rest of me. Can't you undress faster without falling over yourself?"

"Not if you don't let me go. Get in your bath."

He would deny it, but that was absolutely a pout that Arthur gave Merlin in reply. He did, however, sink into the hot water with a little sigh of appreciation, a sound he repeated when Merlin slipped in behind him and pressed his face into Arthur's hair.

"Do you feel terrible?"

"Hm?" Merlin rubbed his face into Arthur's hair again to breathe in his scent; he pulled away to let Arthur rest his head against Merlin's shoulder after Arthur coughed again.

"I feel absolutely _wretched_, and if you feel half as bad as I do or as you _look_, then…" He shrugged and pulled them both down deeper into the hot water so that their legs tangled and the water almost touched Arthur's chin.

"Yeah, but, you've got a terrible cold in your head. I think I'm just tired."

Arthur turned his head so that his hair tickled the side of Merlin's neck and his nose brushed over Merlin's jaw. He nuzzled against Merlin with one of those quiet, snuffling sounds it seemed he couldn't help making with his cold, and kissed the space between the corner of Merlin's jaw and his ear. "Tired enough to be getting ill."

"Okay, I didn't say that. I'm just tired."

"You don't take care of yourself very well."

"Maybe because I'm usually looking after you?"

"Hm." Arthur angled his head to kiss Merlin again. "I don't need _looking after_."

"That sounds really convincing when you croak at me like that."

"I am _not_…" Poor Arthur. His voice gave out on him mid-sentence and he was left coughing and spluttering indignantly. Once he caught his breath, he accepted the mead and even let Merlin hold the goblet to his lips as he drank. "Anyway… that's what a manservant _does_. Looks after somebody."

"Then I was right. You do need me to make sure you eat and sleep and wear the right clothes. And that you don't go out in the snow after you've started sneezing and coughing all over the place."

"I… shut up, Merlin."

And he did, but only because of how much easier it was to concentrate on how good it felt to have Arthur's back pressed to his chest and to have his fingers stroke down over the curve of Arthur's stomach to the line of his hipbone, warm skin under warmer water. The longer they stayed in the water, the more pliant Arthur became. He relaxed almost completely against Merlin and moved into his touch with such ease or touched Merlin with such quiet affection that, if he could keep it this hot, Merlin would have kept Arthur in the bath for hours.

He pulled him out of the bath when the fragrant steam stopped coming off the water and pulled Arthur onto the bed, their bodies still warm and damp from the bath. Arthur waited until Merlin put out the candles before pressing in close once more and tangling their limbs together again, this time under the cover of blankets and darkness.

"I'll look after you, too," Arthur said in a rough voice. His palm rested against Merlin's cheek for a moment before sliding down over his shoulder and chest.

Merlin leaned up to press a kiss to Arthur's lips. "I know you will..." His fingers slid through Arthur's mussed hair to tug him closer for a deeper kiss. "'Cause, you already do."


End file.
